Miami, Florida – at one end of the Paddock at the Hard Rock stadium, Mercedes, celebrated the first pole position of Kimi Antonelli in Formula 1, while the young pilot captured P1 for Sprint F1 race on Saturday at the Miami Grand Prix.
At the other end of the paddock, the driver whose seat Antonelli filled at the beginning of the 2025 season was looking for answers once again, and struggling to find them.
“It was a better session. P1 was likely a little better, the car was a little better, the car was a little more pleasant to drive. We simply lack speed, but we continue working from there,” said Lewis Hamilton after qualifying seventh.
Ferrari’s driver admitted that he was not optimistic about the fight forward when the lights come out on Saturday.
“I think all cars ahead are faster. I don’t know what else to say.”
When asked if he and the team could make some improvements before qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix, which is later on Saturday, Hamilton described that they are always aviable “ideas”.
“There are always ideas. Whether they are right or not … there is definitely learning to have tasks, establish changes, how the behavior of the car, you definitely have to do to accelerate the rest of the weekend.”
On the other side of the Charles Leclerc garage, which qualified just ahead of Hamilton in P6, S6 Shourad his own frustration with the “annoying” lack of rhythm of the SF-25.
“Bad,” Begen Leclerc was asked how he felt the qualification was. “The return was good, but the rhythm is not at all for now, so it is a bit annoying, but it is as it is for now.
“I will do my best to try to do something special with the beginning, but to be honest, today there is not much space to improve. It was only … that is the rhythm of the car,” Leclerc continued.
“It is in every corner, in reality, so it is not as if we were particularly weak in a corner type. Yes, the slow speed seems to be a little more of our weakness, but it changes from one weekend to another, so it is not great.”
After praising Antonelli, Ferrari’s team director Frederic Vasseur, sounded a little more optimistic than his two drivers.
“Kimi congregulations for your mega, hear a very good job and there is a long way ahead,” Vasseur was in the team’s media report.
“Behind him, the situation was much closer and we were not far from the boys in front of us, but that is not enough, since we find that it is difficult to put anyway.
“Tomorrow in Sprint’s career, tire management and the descent will come into play and could be another story.”
The problem could be the traffic that Hamilton and Leclerc will face. Talking to the media on Thursday, Leclerc emphasized how difficult it is to run in Dirty Air this season. Hamilton’s victory in Sprint F1’s career in the China Grand Prix, for example, came when he described in advance.
Running in traffic is a very different story, according to Leclerc.
“It’s interesting because thesis cars are very, very widespread to drive dirty [air]Special this year, “Leclerc said in Thorsday Duration his media session.” We see more differences than in the past, and yes, that makes a difference to try to find for free and use its rhythm to have a strategic advantage. “
If Leclerc or Hamilton can find that outdoors, they can have a chance on Saturday in Sprint F1 race.
But finding it can be difficult, given the cars that will begin in front of them.